Transport systems

ABSTRACT

A closed loop transport system comprises an articulated belt mounted on a support body and forming a closed loop around the body. An air bearing is disposed between the support body and the underside of the belt, the air bearing being fed with pressurized air from within the support body through apertures in the support body on the surface over which the belt passes. The air bearing has continuous sprung edge seals at each side of the belt that have one end attached to the belt and the other end bearing on a complementary contact strip on the support body thereby to provide a low friction continuous contact which reduces escape of air from the bearing.

United States Patent Hamy [ Jan. 14, 1975 TRANSPORT SYSTEMS [75]Inventor: Norbert Hamy, Don Mills, Ontario,

Canada [73] Assignee: ljebi'on I-Io l 1ing s Limited, Don

Mills, Ontario, Canada [22] Filed: Sept. 29, 1971 [21] Appl. No.:184,831

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1904 Dodge 214/1 BE 7/1961Kelly 214/1 BE Petersen 3,410,390 11/1968 198/129 3,513,934 5/1970Crowley 104/23 FS 3,592,334 7/1971 Fleischaver 198/184 3,693,549 9/1972Cuenoud 198/110 Primary Examiner-Lloyd L. King Assistant ExaminerD. W.Keen Attorney, Agent, or FirmRobert J. Schaap [57] ABSTRACT A closedloop transport system comprises an articulated belt mounted on a supportbody and forming a closed loop around the body. An air bearing isdisposed between the support body and the underside of the belt, the airbearing being fed with pressurized air from within the support bodythrough apertures in the support body on the surface over which the beltP es- The a hear as9ntis 2usst runs eds; seals at each side of the beltthat have one end at tached to the belt and the other end bearing on acom plementary contact strip on the support body thereby to provide alow friction continuous contact which reduces escape of air from thebearing.

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1. A closed loop transport system comprising a support body having aduct formed therein, a rigid articulated belt disposed about saidsupport body over said duct and forming a closed loop about said body,said belt comprising a plurality of individual load-supportingcooperatable segments which are relatively movable and which areconstructed with a substantially air impervious material, each of saidsegments having an end margin which is opposed to an end margin of anext adjacent segment, connecting means interconnecting said segmentsfor articulated movement relative to each other and in such manner thatthe end margin of one segment is opposed to the end margin of the nextadjacent segment, said connecting means also providing a substantiallyair impervious construction between the end margins of each of twoadjacent segments in the articulated belt, said belt being slightlyspaced from said support body at least for portions of its length toform an air bearing space intermediate the underside of said belt andsaid support body, sealing means associated with said segments and whichprovides sealing contact along at least one side of the segments and thesupport body in the direction of movement thereof in such manner thatthe sealing contact and the air impervious construction of saidconnecting means provides a substantially air impervious seal to therebymaintain the air bearing space, and means forming a plurality ofapertures in said support body on the surface over which said beltpasses, said apertures being in communication with said air bearingspace and the interior of support body for supplying pressurized air tothe air bearing space from within the support body to generate an airbearing within the air bearing space, said belt being located on saidsupport body and with respect to said duct so that the pressurized airwhich passes through said apertures into said air bearing generates theair bearing for supporting said belt about said support body during itsmovement about the support body.
 2. A closed loop transport systemaccording to claim 1, wherein said belt is driven by a plurality oflinear induction motors depending from the underside of said beltbetween the ducts and cooperating with a rail mounted between saidducts.
 3. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, whereinsaid loop is a horizontally disposed loop and said belt is in the formof a closed loop of interconnected container modules.
 4. A closed looptransport system according to claim 1, wherein said loop is ahorizontally disposed loop and said belt is in the form of a closed loopof interconnected transport platforms on which container modules may betransported.
 5. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1,wherein said belt travels at a constant speed around the loop.
 6. Aclosed loop transport system according to claim 1, wherein said belttravels at a variable speed around said loop.
 7. A closed loop transportsystem according to claim 1, wherein access stations are provided foraccess and egress to said closed loop, said access stations include avariable speed belt on which loads are accelerated from a low speed tothe speed of said closed loops, said variable speed belt runningparallel with said closed loop at the same speed as the closed loop overa suitable distance to allow loads to be transferred on to said closedloop.
 8. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, whereintwo closed loops travelling in opposite directions are positioned sideby side and access stations are positioned side by side said closedloops.
 9. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, whereintwo closed loops travelling in opposite directions are stackedvertically one upon the other and access stations are also stackedvertically one upon the other.
 10. A closed loop transport systemaccording to claim 1, wherein smaller low speed loops are used totransfer loads on said smaller low speed loops to larger high speedloops.
 11. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, whereinsaid belt comprises a plurality of laterally spaced telescoping segmentsto allow said belt to travel at varying speeds over said closed loop.12. A closed loop transport system according to claim 1, wherein saidbelt is a rubber tread which has a plurality of support webs projectinginto said air bearing and at least part of said support body has aplurality of guide channels to accommodate said support webs and therebybuide said webs, a power wheel mounted on said body and engageable withsaid tread for driving said tread around said support body.
 13. A closedloop transport system according to claim 1, wherein said belt is arubber tread which has a plurality of guide runners projecting inwardlyfrom the centre of said tread, which engage a semi-rigid guide channelmounted around at least part of said support body such that said treadis guided around said support body, a power wheel mounted on saidsupport body and engageable with said tread for driving said tread aboutsaid support body.
 14. A closed loop transport system characterized by arigid articulated belt mounted on a support body and forming a closedloop around said body wherein said belt is supported on said body by anair bearing intermediate the underside of said belt and said supportbody, said bearing being supplied with pressurised air from within saidsupport body through apertures in said support body on the surface overwhich the belt passes, said air bearing having continuous sprung edgeseals at each side of said belt with one end attached to said belt andthe other end bearing upon a complementary contact strip on said supportbody thereby to produce a low friction continuous contact which reducesthe escape of air from said air bearing.
 15. A closed loop transportsystem according to claim 14, wherein said loop is a horizontallydisposed loop.
 16. A closed loop transport system according to claim 15,wherein said support body comprises two parallel spaced ducts, saidducts having upper surfaces which are inclined to each other and thelower surface of said belt is V-shaped such that said belt is centredbetween said ducts and supported thereon by two continuous air bearingsformed by air bearing spaces intermediate the belt and the ducts, andwhich air bearings are supplied with pressurised air from within saidducts through a plurality of apertures on the upper surfaces of saidducts.
 17. A closed loop transport system according to claim 15, whereinsaid support body comprises two rectangular parallel spaced ducts andsaid belt is supported on said ducts by air bearings formed by airbearing spaced intermediate the lower surface of the belt and the uppersurfaces of the ducts, said belt also being guided along said ducts byfurther air bearings intermediate the opposing sides of said ducts, andguide members depending from the underside of said belt between saidducts, said air bearings being supplied with pressurised air from withinsaid ducts through a plurality of apertures in said ducts.
 18. A closedloop transport system according to claim 15, wherein said belt travelsat a variable speed around said loop.
 19. A closed loop transport systemaccording to claim 18, wherein said belt comprises a plurality oflaterally spaced telescoPing segments to allow said belt to travel atvarying speeds over said closed loop.
 20. A closed loop transport systemaccording to claim 1, wherein said loop is a vertically disposed loop.21. A closed loop transport system according to claim 20, wherein saidbelt is a rubber tread which has a plurality of support webs projectinginto said air bearing and at least part of said support body has aplurality of guide channels to accommodate said support webs and therebyguide said webs, and therefore the treat along said guide channels bymeans of further air bearings intermediate the walls of said channelsand the sides of said webs, a power wheel mounted on said support body,and engageable with said tread for driving said tread around saidsupport body.
 22. A closed loop transport system according to claim 20,wherein said belt is a rubber tread which has a plurality of guiderunners projecting inwardly from the centre of said tread, which engagea semi-rigid guide channel mounted around at least part of said supportbody such that said tread is guided around said support body, a powerwheel mounted on said support body and engageable with said tread fordriving said tread around said support body.
 23. A closed loop transportsystem comprising a support body, a rigid articulated belt disposedabout said support body and forming a closed loop about said body, saidbelt being slightly spaced from said support body at least for portionsof its length to form an air bearing space intermediate the underside ofsaid belt and said support body, means forming a plurality of aperturesin said support body on the surface over which said belt passes andwhich apertures are in communication with said air bearing space so thatpressurised air introduced with respect to said support body passesthrough said apertures into said air bearing space to form an airbearing support for said belt, a sprung edge seal operatively associatedwith each of the opposite longitudinal ends of said belt and saidsupport body and each said seal bearing against a complementary contactstrip in sliding continuous contact therewith to produce a low frictioncontinuous contact which reduces escape of air from said air bearingspace.
 24. A closed loop transport system according to claim 23, whereina sprung edge seal is operatively attached to each of the oppositelongitudinal ends of said belt, and said complementary contact stripsare located on the opposite sides of said support body so that the freeends of the respective ones of said seals are in sliding continuouscontact with said contact strips.
 25. A closed loop transport systemcomprising a support body having a centrally located V-shaped ductformed by a pair of upper surfaces which are inclined to each other, arigid articulated V-shaped belt disposed about said support body andforming a closed loop about said body, said belt comprising a pluralityof individual load-supporting cooperatable segments which are relativelymovable, means interconnecting said segments for articulated movementrelative to each other, said belt being slightly spaced from saidsupport body at least for portions of its length to form an air bearingspace intermediate the underside of said belt and said support body,said segments being connected in such manner as to be substantially airimpervious to thereby maintain the air bearing space between said beltand V-shaped duct, and means forming a plurality of apertures in saidduct on the surface over which said belt passes, said apertures being incommunication with said air bearing space and the interior of saidsupport body for supplying pressurized air to the air bearing space fromwithin the support body to generate an air bearing within the airbearing space, said belt being substantially centered within the uppersurface of said V-shaped duct so that the pressurized air which passesthrough said apertures into said air bearing space generates the airbearing for supporting said belt during its moveMent about the supportbody.
 26. A closed loop transport system comprising a support bodyincluding at least two parallel spaced ducts and each of said ductshaving upper surfaces, a rigid articulated belt disposed about saidsupport body and forming a closed loop about said body, said beltcomprising a plurality of individual load-supporting cooperatablesegments which are relatively movable, means interconnecting saidsegments for articulated movement relative to each other, said beltbeing slightly spaced from said support body at least for portions ofits length to form air bearing spaces intermediate the underside of saidbelt and the upper surfaces of the spaced ducts in said support body,said segments being connected in such manner as to be substantially airimpervious to thereby maintain the air bearing spaces between said beltand said spaced ducts, means forming a plurality of apertures in each ofsaid ducts on the surface over which said belt passes, said aperturesbeing in communication with said air bearing spaces and the interior ofsaid support body for supplying pressurized air to each of the airbearing spaces from within the support body to generate air bearingswithin each of the air bearing spaces, said belt also being guided alongsaid ducts by further air bearings intermediate the opposing sides ofsaid ducts, and guide members depending from the underside of said beltbetween said ducts so that the pressurized air which passes through saidapertures into said air bearing spaces generates the air bearings forsupporting said belt during its movement about the support body.